The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its ally at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are preparing the ground to deceive the people of Andhra Pradesh again after a gap of two-and-a-half-years, charged Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy here on Thursday.
Briefing the media after the party’s executive committee meeting at the Andhra Ratna Bhavan, the PCC chief said there would be nothing substantive in the announcement on the Special Category Status (SCS) to be made by the Central government next week.
“A red alert has been announced by the Congress Executive Committee as the Centre is trying to undermine the rights of the people for SCS and they have been asked to get ready to launch yet another struggle for what is rightfully due to them,” Mr. Reddy said.
He said the executive had passed about 10 resolutions on various issues, including one on the lunch motion petition filed in the High Court on the ACB Court order to re-investigate the cash-for-vote case.
Governor criticised
This amounted to agreeing that the Chief Minister was involved in the case, he said. Mr. Reddy said it was unfortunate that the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was also trying to act as a “negotiator” in the case.
The case had a heavy bearing on the affairs of Andhra Pradesh, including the State government forfeiting its right to use Hyderabad as capital for 10 years and the ‘unauthorised’ irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers, he said.
In other resolutions, the Congress party demanded the TDP to hand over the Polavaram Project to the Centre for completion, booking of criminal cases against those responsible for delay in the implementation of the SC/ST Sub-Plan in accordance with the Act and taking steps to check the increasing atrocities on Dalits and women.
Andhra Pradesh was fourth in the country when it came to atrocities on Dalits and sixth in regard to atrocities on women. The State was in the first place when it came to corruption as per a survey conducted by the Central government, Mr. Reddy said.
PCC vice-president N. Tulasi Reddy and City president and former MLA Malladi Vishnu were present at the briefing.
